Privacy Laws Cause Confusion

Confusion over privacy laws often prevents schools and doctors from sharing information about potentially dangerous students, according to a federal report issued Wednesday in response to the Virginia Tech massacre.

The report, ordered by President Bush in April after the most deadly U.S. shooting in modern history, also found that mental health services may be inadequate -- particularly at colleges. It urged more reporting of mental-health issues by states to ensure that firearms background checks are thorough and complete.

The 22-page report, produced by three Cabinet secretaries, did not specifically address the tragedy at Virginia Tech, where a 23-year-old college student gunned down 32 students and faculty before killing himself.

An analysis of the April 16 shootings has been left to a state commission appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. But the federal report aimed to assess what measures are needed across the country to reduce the chances that another Virginia Tech-style shooting will happen again.

What emerged from discussions with education, mental health and law enforcement officials from a dozen states was a sense that states lack the resources to address and monitor mental-health concerns on college campuses, the report found.

And even when officials know that a student may be dangerous, as was the case at Virginia Tech, officials are reluctant to share that information because of privacy laws that are too often misunderstood.

"It became very clear that there are perceived obstacles to information sharing," said Michael Leavitt, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, who spoke to reporters Wednesday after briefing Bush on the report.

"People don't understand what they can share and what they can't share," Leavitt said. "We need to do a much better job educating educators, mental health community and law enforcement that they can, in fact, share information when a person's safety or a community's safety is in fact potentially endangered."

The report also found that only 23 states, including Virginia, currently provide any information on mentally ill people to a federal database used to conduct criminal background checks for gun sales.

The Virginia Tech killer, Seung-Hui Cho, had been ordered to undergo outpatient mental-health treatment, but that information was not reported to the federal database because of a glitch in state law.

The report urged the U.S. Department of Justice to work with states more closely to provide guidance and policies that "ensure that relevant and complete information is available for background checks."

Even as the report was issued Wednesday, the House passed a bill aimed at improving state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to stop gun purchases by the mentally ill.

The bill, which had the backing of the National Rifle Association after some concessions, won swift approval on an unrecorded voice vote.

"Today, the House of Representatives took significant action to honor the memories of the victims who lost their lives at Virginia Tech," Kaine said after the vote, applauding what he described as "common-sense legislation" to ensure better reporting of mental illnesses.

Kaine had no immediate comment Wednesday on the federal report, saying he needed to review it.

The report was signed by Leavitt, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. *